5.  The applicant was born in 1938 and lives in Bremen, Germany.
6.  In 1996, after having worked for forty years in Ukraine, the applicant retired and began receiving a retirement pension.
7.  From 1999 the applicant authorised his mother to receive his pension.
8.  In August 2000 the applicant emigrated to Germany. Prior to his departure, he was supposed to inform the local department of the Pension Fund that he was leaving for permanent residence abroad and to receive six months’ pension payments in advance, with subsequent termination of all pension payments during the whole period of his stay abroad (see Relevant domestic law below). However, the applicant did not follow this procedure and his mother continued to receive his pension after his departure. The monthly amount of the applicant’s pension varied from 107 Ukrainian hryvnias (UAH), which was equivalent of around 21 euros (EUR) at the material time, in February 2001 to UAH 365.41 (EUR 58) in September 2005 and totalled in UAH 10,872.40.
9.  On 23 September 2005, on discovering that the applicant was no longer resident in Ukraine, the Zaporizhzhya Leninskiy District Department of the Pension Fund (hereinafter “the Pension Fund Department”) took a decision in accordance with Section 49 § 1 (2) of the General State Pension (Obligatory Insurance) Act to terminate pension payments to the applicant with effect from 1 September 2005 on the ground that he lived permanently abroad.
10.  At the request of the Pension Fund Department, on 6 April 2006 the Zaporizhzhya Leninskiy District Court (hereinafter “the District Court”) ordered the applicant to pay back the amount of UAH 10,872.40 Ukrainian hryvnias unlawfully received after his emigration. This judgment was upheld by the higher courts and became final, but remained unenforced.
11.  On 8 September 2008 the Zaporizhzhya Leninskiy District Police Department refused to institute criminal proceedings against the applicant for allegedly unlawful receipt of pension between 2001 and 2005 for lack of corpus delicti in his actions.
12.  On 7 October 2009 the Constitutional Court declared unconstitutional the provisions on the basis of which the applicant’s pension payments had been terminated (see Relevant domestic law below).
13.  On 12 October 2009, following the above decision of the Constitutional Court, the applicant requested the Pension Fund Department to restore his pension payments. By a letter of 10 February 2010 the Pension Fund Department, referring to the Pension Fund letter of 28 December 2009 concerning the procedure for application of the decision of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine, informed the applicant that the above decision of the Constitutional Court applied only to those who had left for abroad after 7 October 2009 and that therefore there were no legal grounds for the restoration of his pension payments. On 3 September 2010 the applicant challenged the above interpretation of the Constitutional Court decision by the Pension Fund before the Kyiv Administrative Court, which rejected his complaint as submitted too late.
14.  On 20 October 2009 the applicant applied to the District Court for revision of its judgment of 6 April 2006 on the grounds of newly discovered circumstances, referring to the decision of the Constitutional Court of 7 October 2009. On 2 December 2009 the Zaporizhzhya Regional Prosecutor’s Office (the ZRPO) made a similar application to the same court, acting in the applicant’s interests. On 29 June 2010 the court rejected the applications, on the ground that the decision of the Constitutional Court had no retroactive effect and could not qualify as a newly discovered circumstance. On 14 October and 22 November 2010 the Zaporizhzhya Regional Court of Appeal and the Higher Administrative Court upheld the decision of the first-instance court.
15.  On 12 February 2010 the Zaporizhzhya Leninskiy District Prosecutor instituted proceedings in the interests of the applicant in the District Court against the Pension Fund Department, seeking resumption of pension payments to the applicant.
16.  On 15 April 2011 the District Court found for the applicant and ordered the Pension Fund Department to resume payment of pension to the applicant with effect from 7 October 2009, the date of the Constitutional Court decision.
17.  On 26 April 2011 the Pension Fund Department appealed against the judgment of 15 April 2011.
18.  On 21 June 2011 the Dnipropetrovsk Administrative Court of Appeal upheld the decision of 15 April 2011.